Is my Diesel Engine broken?
 

My car is a 1980 300D, and I had the compression tested today because it didn't start up all of a sudden.
Mechanic said that compression is GONE on 2 cylinders, and that
the other 3 cyls are also pretty bad. The mechanic also broke my
STARTER, which makes me wonder if it is possible to test com-
pression with a weak/broken starter at all? (I suppose that my
starter was already weak when I took it to the mechanic, otherwise it wouldn't have broken, right?)
Mechanic said my Benz is ready for the junkyard unless the engine
gets rebuilt, which would cost a fortune (does anybody know how much?)
Shoud I trust this guy or might the engine still be okay? DO I REALLY HAVE TO DUMP MY BENZ??? :mad:

Thanks for any comment!!!

Tschepplmasta.

Your mechanic might be ready for the junkyard. Did he pull the valve cover? I'd make sure the chain is intact and providing proper cam and IP timing and that the valves are properly adjusted.

Sixto
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD

he adjusted the valves (that's what he said) and said they had been way too tight, but the compression didn't get better at all. he showed me some little strips of paper with a printed scale to "proof" the compression check.

Also, I don't know what you define as 'fortune' but a full rebuild on a 617 would be in the $2500-3000 range if I'm not mistaken, that may even be a bit high.

If the car is truly symptomatic of failure (please have another mech check the items sixto mentions), and the rest of the car is straight, it's not a bad investment for another 300kmi+ of driving pleasure :)

I'd definitely get a second opinion....

Regards,
- Ryan

Ryan,
thank you for your opinion. Unfortunately, the car has several
other little faliures, such as oil dripping on driver's foot, etc.
All together a rebuilt sees to be way too expensive. I should
get the car to another shop...

I understand Tschepplmasta, only you can determine if it's worth it or not. Let us know what happens!

Also, as a side note, the oil on your foot is likely from the the line leading to the oil-pressure-gauge not being tightened down. It connects just behind the guage itself whose needle, is driven literally, by the engine pushing oil up the hose and up to the gauge. A simple fix, but by the time oil drips on your foot, it's usually made a mess of things behind the dash :( Still, not much should be ruined beyond a good cleaning...

Regards,
- Ryan

dieseldude,
how do you think can the gauge be accessed?

tschepplmasta

my former mechanic also said my car was 'ready for the junkyard'
but that was about 10,000 miles ago.... that's why he is now my 'former' mechanic.

get a 2nd opine.

Didn't you mention that you had oil in a vacuum line in an earlier post? This can be the cause of your dripping oil and it can make a REAL mess if it gets into the climate control or other vacuum servos.

FWIW, that's how our beloved 1982 300D Turbo went out in 1999. One cold day it was very hard to start and made huge amounts of smoke. Basically got the same diagosis as yours.

You might look into the diesel Rx stuff on e-bay, but you would have to get the engine running to use it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2401049705&category=6775

Otherwise, there are lots of used engines around.

Tschepplmasta, you need to pull the instrument cluster - the oil pressure line screws directly into the back of the gauge. With the clean-up you'll likely need to do, I'd take off the steering wheel first (pull the molded rubber cover off the middle, take off the nut holding it down - it's around 19mm). This will give you much more room.

The cluster can be pulled out by hand - I've done on my now gone '75 and my current '77 with little trouble, though there is a MB tool to aid in removal (you can also make your own out of a coat hanger). Perform a search in the archives to other links/reccomendations, it was discussed just recently I believe.

Good luck - keep us posted!

- Ryan

Thank you guys,
I'll keep you posted!

Since the ****! mechanic killed the starter, I am considering trying to have a friend pull my car up a hill and try to get it started by
going down the hill.... does anybody know how/if this works with
an automatic transition? (with manual shift it would be easy)

thanx so much for your help!

T.

it is possible to start the car while rolling or towing but you gotta get it going about 30mph at least then put it into S on the gear selector (key on of course!) be real careful cause if it doesnt start then you only have manual brakes:eek:

Something I've wondered about lately, is that with '80s vintage diesels that are complete running cars and can be purchased for between $2k and $4k, would it be easier to just get a complete car and drop the engine from it into one's existing car with a "bad" engine? Why pay $4k for a rebuild when I can get a whole car for probably less money?

84300DT,
thanks - I'll try!:eek:
hope this will get it going!
will keep you posted!

T.:cool:

volosong,

I definitely don't wanna spend 2k-4k on a rebuilt engine...
I must come up w/ something else or sell the nightmare. Have been working on it for 2and1/2 weeks now, and I am so
fed up w/ these old cars.... but maybe we'll get it fired up
downhill.... :)
thanks for your help,
T.